Days 8 and 9

If you aren't familiar with my holiday charity blogging project, please take a minute to read this post I wrote describing it.

Day 8: Metropolitan Ministries

Their mission: From their website, "Metropolitan Ministries faithfully reaches out to poor, hungry and homeless men, women and children in their time of need — providing life-changing answers.Within our care, people find food, clothing, shelter, and other vital services. But more importantly they find compassion and hope – hope for a brighter day and future. The need in our community continues to grow, as it has since the Ministries began in 1972, and the Ministries’ commitment continues to grow as well.

We are committed to reaching out and providing answers that:

• help prevent homelessness
• ease hunger
• offer life-changing answers leading to self-sufficiency
• support to transition back into our community." 

Metropolitan Ministries is a charity operating out of the Tampa Bay area, so as with Good Samaritan Mission, it has the appeal for me of being a local organization that offers aid to my own community. If Tampa Bay is not local for you, please consider whatever comparable organization you could become involved in for your own community. There are many such non-profits across the country that could really use your support.

Metropolitan Ministries offers food, counseling, housing, and after school and day care for residents who are working to be freed from homelessness. Their goal is to meet the physical needs of the poor and homeless, as well as to offer job training and guidance to improving their situations. Many of their services are directed towards homeless women and children.

What you can do: Donate financially, volunteer, and donate food, clothes, and other necessities. As with most charities this season, they are in need of toys and food for the holidays, so there are many resources to help you get your donations into the hands of those that need them. Consider hosting a drive, donating items that are needed, or give in a host of other different ways. Their website makes it very easy, so please give it a look.

Day 9: Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity of Hillsborough County is the local branch for my area, but this organization has chapters all over the country. Take a look at your local Habitat for Humanity to see what they've got going on. On the website for Hillsborough County, it says that this chapter was started in 1987 and has built over 140 homes in the county.

Their mission: From their website: "The ultimate goal of Habitat for Humanity of Hillsborough County is to eliminate substandard and poverty housing and homelessness from Hillsborough County.  We build homes...build lives...and build hope.  Furthermore, all our words and actions are for the ultimate purpose of putting shelter on the hearts and minds of people in such a powerful way that poverty housing and homelessness become socially, politically and religiously unacceptable in our nations and world."

What you can do: Donate money, material goods, and/or your time, among other things. Habitat for Humanity is powered largely through volunteer work and corporate and community partnerships, so there's always a need to be met or a job to be done.